Driven By Blood
by Lalaith Yamainu
Summary: Kagome's children have grown up without knowing who their father is, but when she starts to go crazy they leave through the well to find him.. ON HOLD.
1. Default Chapter

Authors Note: Okay, long authors notes at the beginning of new stories is bad so.... if you want you can just skip to the end. Or just read the story. Whatever. Please review though, there's no point in writing if you don't enjoy it....

Disclaimer: Do I _write_ like I own Inuyasha? Poor, poor characters....

It was the morning of our fifteenth birthday. We, me and Mama, my big sister Kaori, and my big brothers Ryu and Tsuyu, were out having a picnic under the Sacred Tree. Mama stood up, stretched, and announced that she was going to have a bath. Then, right in the middle of the front yard, she began undressing. Kaori - always the brave one - walked over and took her hand.

"Mom? You can't undress in the front yard." Tears were welling up in her eyes. "You have to wait until you get to the bathroom."

"Oh", Mama cocked her head, and turned around, strolling into the house muttering about shampoo. Kaori turned back to us, tears flowing down her face as she gripped her yellow kimono. Turning to Ryu they nodded at each other before turning to us. Tsuyu shrugged at me, before standing up, taking my hand as we walked to the old well house. Inside were four backpacks, chock full of survival gear. We each picked one up, and I tossed one, nervous glance at Ryu before we took each other's hands, and jumped into the well.

Mama wasn't always like that. A long time ago she was... well, she was never normal, but she wasn't crazy. I think Princess Leia summed it up when she described:

"She was very beautiful. Kind, but, sad."

She never told us why.

Mama never hid our demon heritage from us. I don't remember ever thinking I was human. She trained us in controlling ourselves, and would tell stories about demon's she knew, both good and bad. Grandma never liked it. She thought that Mama should have waited until we were older, so that we didn't get scared. I don't remember the conversation, we were barely three, but Ryu says Mama looked at us, and then back at grandma. Her eyes got all shimmery, like she was gonna cry. She pulled me over and put me in her lap. She was shaking when she took Kaori's hand and looked Grandma in the eye, a single tear cascading down her face.

"Young children are sometimes frightened of the world. That doesn't mean we should let them stay in their cribs. Children are a lot stronger than you think. As long as they know you love them... they can handle just about anything life throws at them, you know?"

She never talked about our father, not even to tell us his name. The official story was Mama had gotten drunk, had a one night fling, and couldn't even remember his face - that's what Uncle Sota told people anyway. But we knew she remembered. Sometimes, one of us would say something, or do something, or look a certain way, and Mama would go all misty eyed. Sometimes she would go to her room and cry, and sometimes she would just laugh it off, proclaiming we were "just like your father", and "it must be the canine in you".

The canine in us. Our demon blood. She never blamed it. She never praised it. Never good, or bad, just a fact of life. It was a part of who we are. We were the pups. The four not-quite-demons, but not-quite-humans. Two girls and two boys. We all looked like Mama, she made sure of it. She had put a jewel shard into each of us when we were born, in order to hide our appearances.

No one was allowed to see us until we all had black hair, brown eye's, and decidedly human ears. She had given birth to us alone, in her bedroom, no one helping her but one old midwife, who had been paid a hefty sum. Just to be sure though, Mama changed her memory. Handy things, miko powers.

Two of us looked like our father, though we weren't sure who. If it was me, I hadn't seen my true form. Mama hid our demon scent - we all smell exactly like her - which can get confusing when you're trying to say, sneak an extra hour of T.V. in, and you can't tell if it's your mother coming home, or just a harmless sibling.

Our aura's were different too. Kaori and I are miko's, which pretty much overcomes any demon tendencies anyway, but the boys are demon through and through. Strength, speed, agility, they had it all. And every month on the new moon Mama would renew the spells on them, to "hide their demon beacons".

She always made sure we knew that being demons isn't a bad thing. Once, after a particularly scary story involving a demon called Sesshoumaru and his hanyou brother Inuyasha, I started crying. I couldn't understand why Sesshoumaru was so mean. Was it so bad to be both demon and human? Was I a monster? A mongrel? A good for nothing freak? Ryu asked Mama why humans and demons hate each other. Tsuyu asked who started the fights.

We were older now, pushing nine, and she had already started to go wrong in the head. She had times when she would just go inside herself, sometimes for days. Now Mama got real quiet and Kaori started to look worried, reaching up to touch her face. Mama took her hand gently and started talking, her voice soft and soothing.

"You know what I think? A long time ago, demons and humans lived in peace. I don't think they lived together in one big happy family, but they probably lived without trying to kill each other. But you see, the funny thing about humans is that they're afraid of what they don't understand. And the lifestyle of a demon is completely alien to them. They knew that there were beings that could kill them in an instant, with little or no effort. That could slaughter their families, and their children, and never break a sweat. And since they couldn't understand how demons think, they couldn't be sure that they wouldn't try. So, who do you blame? The villagers who, in their minds at least, did nothing more than defend themselves? Or do you blame the demons who probably did nothing more than growl at the wrong person at the wrong time? Rarely is hatred clearly defined in black and white..."

&&&&&

That was the mother we knew growing up. But the older we got, the more distant she became. She stopped training us, telling us stories, making sure we were wearing clean underwear. She never told us anything about who we were, and where our father came from - not that she ever had. Finally, when we were twelve, we turned to Grandma.

She didn't know much, but what she did know blew us away. Our mother had traveled through time? Had been friends with the great Inuyasha? Most of the stories were about him; we had figured Mama had read a good scroll from the archives or something; it had never occurred to us that she had lived those adventures. We knew about the Shikon no Tama - after all, part of it was in us. But we had never known about a quest.

As her narrative drew to a close, we eyed one another, daring someone to ask. Finally Tsuyu took the initiative.

"Grandma? Who's our father?"

We were shocked to find out that she didn't know. All she knew, was that one night mama had left the camp, Inuyasha had followed her, Koga had shown up, there was a fight, and Mama had come home pregnant with us.

"So you have no idea?" Kaori asked, disappointment clearly written on her face.

"It's probably either Koga or Inuyasha. She never told me, and the look on her face.... I didn't want to press."

"But why hasn't Inuyasha come through the well for her?" Tsuyu asked, his voice betraying a bit of anger, "It's not like he ever seemed to have a problem with it before..."

Grandma shrugged, and turned back to making dinner. Creeping back to our room, we sat in a circle on the floor, right hands held in the center, left clasping the scar's in our sides where the shard's resided. It was an old habit, one we had had all our lives; a way to remind us that we had each other.

That night we planned. If Mama got to the point.... we didn't know what point.... but if she got to _the point _....we would go through the well - trusting that her blood would carry us through- and get help. We weren't sure from who; Inuyasha, Koga, Lady Kaede or anyone else. Anyone who could help. Anyone who could bring Mama back.

The next day we began researching. Over the next three years we learned everything there was to know about Feudal Japan. Our history grades skyrocketed. We slowly packed bags full of the necessities. And the day Mama lost all sense of modesty we knew it was time.

&&&&&&&

Star Wars, Episode VI, The Empire Strikes Back. She's telling Luke what she remembered of her mother from when she was small.

Authors Note: Wheee! First Chapter done! To clarify things, there are four kids, quadruplets, two boys, Ryu (dragon) and Tsuyu (no idea); and two girls, Kaori (strong) and Kiyosha (quiet child) who's the baby of the group, and who told this chap. The next one is through Kaori's point of view.

I realize that this story will take a while to write. I have the disadvantage of only having seen the first 15 episodes of the series, (no joke, I haven't even met Mirokou yet) but my friends have, and talk about it constantly. You have _no_ idea how heavily I'm relying on them.....

I really, really want this to be a good story, so If you see anything that doesn't make sense, or you think is uncannon, please leave me a review explaining what and why. If possible, I'll change it. I want anyone from any point in the series to be able to read this and say "yeah, I think that could happen".

Kagome's Mom knows the basics - the quest, rough character sketches, and a few descriptions of fights. (basically my knowledge - the first 15, whatever I can get from ff's - which I can't always trust - and whatever my friends happen to be talking about). That's pretty much what the kids know.

Of course the big question is "Who the heck is the father?!" and the answer is...... come on, you didn't actually think I would tell you?

Lemme just say this, it's not who you think... which could go either way, depending on how you look at it. I could do Inuyasha, which would be sweet and right, and fluffy, and happy... and totally predictable. Or it could be Koga, which would throw the story for a loop. But see, now you think it'll be Koga since I just said it wouldn't be predictable, which means it'll be Inuyasha... so yeah, it could go either way. _I _know which way it's gonna go of course...... evil grin ..... arrigato to Haku-chan for her ending idea, I was gonna do it a different way. Arigato.

So yeah, next chap'll be up soon, and please, please review. There's no point otherwise.... and I won't write a sequel w/out 50 reviews. Which means my friends will kill you since they don't know anything beyond the end of this fic. I refuse to tell them. evil grin love ya guys!


	2. The Great Inuyasha

ch2

Authors Note: Okay, first I'd like to apologize for any weird stuff in the first chapter (ex. the random i's), FF. net is different than the only other site I've posted on, and I'm trying to figure it out. 

Another thing. My friends have expressed the concern that I may have frightened you away with my dark "sequel" comment, making it seem like I've got a horrible ending planned. Also, they're afraid you'll think this is a Kagome/Koga story. I can't say that Koga's not the father, but Kagome will _eventually_ get with Inuyasha. So no fear, she's not gonna announce that Koga's the father, she hates Inuyasha, and then run away and marry Mirokou.

This chapter may be a bit confusing and/or tedious (like the first one wasn't). The problem is that you don't know the pups very well, so I have to be very clear on who's saying what, and say their names as much as possible. As you get to know them it will be easier.

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own them.

Dedication: To Yukimi the Ice Goddess and InuyashaFan4Life1988, the only people outside of my friends who reviewed. It was you who gave me the courage to continue this story.

We landed lightly on the ground under the open sky. The stones around us were covered in light vines. Sunshine poured down upon us and I could hear a wind in the trees. Glancing at my brothers and sister I sighed.

"We've come this far..."

Ryu looked at me like I was crazy. " Kaori... we're in _Feudal Japan!"_

I rolled my eyes at him. "So.... wasn't that what we jumped in the well for?" Yoshi giggled at me.

He glared at her. "People don't just pop through wells to the other side of time!"

"Mom used to do it all the time." Tsuyu piped up. Ryu growled at him. "What?" he asked, hands wide.

"It's not natural!"

"Look", I cut in, "if you're so scared, why did you come along?!"

"But... I... _I'm not scared!_" Ryu sputtered at me.

"Oh yeah, I can tell," I rolled my eyes at him, "which is why you aren't sha-"

"Mama's waiting you guys." Yoshi cut in quietly. "We came her for her." Ryu's eyes softened, and I smiled. Kiyoshi was the baby of the family- we all knew it. It was usually her stopping the fights we frequently had.

Muttering a bit, Ryu turned around and allowed me to climb on his back. Taking a deep breath he leapt out of the well, shortly followed by Tsuyu and Yoshi. I slid off and took a moment to absorb the sights and sounds of the forest. The Forest of Inuyasha. Who could be our father. Whom we came to find. Tsuyu was staring off in the distance. I went over and took his hand, squeezing it, comforting him. He looked at me and pointed, drawing my gaze to the Sacred Tree, where just that morning my mother had "come out"- of her clothes that is. I shoved the thought away, turing to Ryu.

"Well? Which way's the village?"

Gently he sniffed, then pointed. Nodding, I gathered my bags, took Yoshi by the elbow, and headed in the direction my brother pointed.

Walking through the woods was heavenly. The birds were singing, the wind was blowing through the trees, somewhere a brook was laughing.... and I was distracting myself, pure and simple. I sighed, drawing a look from Tsuyu. There was just to much going on to fully appreciate nature, beautiful though it was. We came to the edge of the forest and I turned to Ryu and Tsuyu.

"Check the perimeter for any other demons. You never know what could have happened in the last 16 years."

They nodded at me, and sped away, faster than anyone I knew. Of course, I didn't know that many demons... so who was I to judge how fast a normal demon ran? There was a lot about demons I didn't know... and there I went, distracting myself. Cursing lightly I berated myself. I had important things to accomplish, and that couldn't happen if I kept doing this. I had to take care of Yoshi, make sure the boys didn't pick a fight with some all powerful demon, make sure we found Lady Kaede and Inuyasha, make sure that Mom....

I grabbed Yoshi's hand as we walked towards the village. She was my baby sister- never mind that it was only by minutes - and I had to take care of her. It was early morning, and the village seemed to be deserted. She pointed to a shrine, similar to the one we had called home for our entire lives. Cautiously, we climbed the steps. A large courtyard was spread before us, Yoshi pointed to a small shrine not far away - grave marker by the looks of it. She went to investigate.

Not long after, I heard footsteps around the corner of the sanctuary. I walked toward the sound. A man was kneeling before a statue, saying his daily prayers. He was young, or at least middle aged. He had dark hair pulled back in a pony tale and dark purple robes. I moved toward him silently. He had power, quite a bit... not all of it good. I felt distinctly uncomfortable about his hand, the one wrapped in cloth.... something told me I should recognize him.

I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. He spun around to face me, eye's growing wide. He sat there, staring at me, mouth hanging open.

"Kagome...?" he rasped Then, looking closer at me, he narrowed his eyes. "Kikyo."

My brows furrowed. "Did you know Kagome Higurashi?"

"Did I know- who are you?!" His face went from sickly pale to fire-engine red in the blink of an eye. The knuckles of his right hand had gone white, he was clutching the staff so hard.

I turned, sensing Yoshi's presence enter the room. He stared at her, then back at me. Standing up, he grabbed his staff and backed further into the sanctuary.

"Who are you?" he repeated, voice hard. I looked at Yoshi.

"Did you know Kagome Higurashi?" she asked slowly. His face turned red with anger.

"And if I did?" he demanded.

"Then we would ask if you could direct us to the Lady Kaede." He looked at me suspiciously

"Kaede's dead. Who wants to know?"

I sighed.

"We do." Lil' sis announced.

I glared at Yoshi.

"And who is we?"

"Does it matter?" I retorted. She glared back. I conceded. Mental sparing. Not good when you aren't sure about you're surroundings.

I stepped up to the man. "My name is Kaori Higurashi. This is my sister Kiyoshi. Kagome was our mother."

He looked at us suspiciously. "Where is sh- what do you mean _was_?!"

"It's... well... she's not dead... " he looked relieved, "... yet... but... it's a long story." Yoshi nodded emphatically.

He nodded, and turned to exit the courtyard. When we didn't follow he asked, "There are... people... who want to hear the story as much as I do. We're going to the village." We followed.

I shifted. We had gotten strange reactions out of the villagers, and the stares were making me uncomfortable. Yoshi wasn't faring much better. We drew to a little hut - well, it was bigger than the rest of the village. A woman came out wiping her hands on a cloth. She looked away from her husband and made eye contact with me. The cloth hit the ground. She took a step towards me.

"Kagome?" she whispered, whipping her head to the man we had followed. The man shook his head at her.

"Her daughters." he whispered, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She stared at us.

"Who... never mind." She walked over to Yoshi and embraced her. "Kagome's family is my family" she announced, before extending her arms to me.

I accepted the gesture gratefully; it had been a long time since I had been held by a woman. Releasing me, she ushered us inside, sending her daughter to go find something to eat.

"I'm Sango," she introduced. "And this is my husband Mirokou."

"You're the lecher!" Yoshi gasped. Mirokou looked indignant.

"What exactly has Kagome been telling you guys?" He demanded. Oblivious to our downcast looks he turned to his wife. "I wasn't that bad was I?" Sango shushed him, gesturing towards us. I was sagged against the door frame, and Yoshi looked ready to cry.

"So," she said, "how hungry are you?" We warned her that our brothers would be returning soon, and she set out the extra plates. She introduced her children: Haruko, who's not much younger than us, his nine year old brother Jiro, and their two year old sister Chika.

Conversation lagged, and silence overtook the small hut. Yoshi sat up straight and I stiffened, feeling like a bucket of ice had been dumped over my head.

"Are you girls all right?" Sango asked, before looking towards the door. "Inuyasha, come in."

I could hardly believe it. The great Inuyasha, hero of countless bedtime stories, hanyou guardian of my mother, and possibly my father was standing there staring at us.

"Kagome?" he whispered, face pale and eyes wide. Sango shook her head.

"Her daughters."

"Daughters?" His eyes got really wide, and he stepped back, looking scared. "Who's... what.... how?"

He took a step toward us, but just then two blurs ran in the room. Inuyasha stood defensively in front of us,

"Kaori!" Ryu panted.

"I see you found the youkai." I remarked dryly. He glared. Yoshi joined my teasing.

"Us poor girls were about to be mauled by the great Inuyasha, and our brother's weren't even around to protect us!" She mock pouted.

"Inuyasha?" Tsuyu whispered, staring at the white haired newcomer. Inuyasha looked at him.

"You're Kagome's too?" he asked. Ryu nodded guardedly. Inuyasha turned to Mirokou. "You wanna explain this?" he demanded. Mirokou shrugged, and Sango defended him.

"We didn't know anything more than you did, and you know it. The girls only just arrived, and this is the first time we've seen the boys." She turned to me. "Would you mind explaining everything?" she asked kindly.

I looked at my brothers and sister, debating. We had never told anyone before. It caused problems; strangers can't be trusted. I looked at the faces around the little cabin and saw genuine concern. Yoshi put her hand on my arm.

"We have to explain sometime." She assured me.

With one last look at my brothers I took a deep breath, and began.

After I was done, Mirokou took over, explaining what had happened the night Mom disappeared.

_It was evening in the feudal ages, where Kagome helped find shards of the Shikon no Tama. She was 16 years old, to young for most girls to be out in youkai infested woods, but Kagome would tell you in an instant that she was just fine. After all, she had the great Inuyasha to protect her._

_It was a pretty normal night. They had been traveling for a week or so, and had bedded down. Everyone was asleep except Mirokou, who Inuyasha had asked to stand watch while he checked the perimeters. Mirokou glanced up, sensing a presence missing. Scanning the camp he noticed that Shippou was curled up alone in Kagome's sleeping bag. Just as he turned to wake Sango up Inuyasha came back. _

_After demanding to know where Kagome was, he announced that he was going to find her._

_The next morning the camp was in a ruckus. Shippou was throwing a fit, having woken up alone. Sango was trying to calm him, while alternately smacking Mirokou's hand away. _

_Mirokou walked around the campsite keeping his hands busy in an effort to hold his thoughts. Kagome couldn't be in any trouble, Inuyasha was with her.... right? They'd been gone all night...... but Sango and Shippou didn't know that, nor did they need to. For all they knew the two were off....... doing Kami knows what. As long as he didn't have to think of any excuses, he was fine._

_Just then, his eye's beheld a most unusual sight. A certain Hanyou stumbled into the clearing completely disheveled, with tattered clothes, bloody hair, and bruises galore. He stood there oafishly, blinking at the sun before collapsing into a heap at the bemused monk's feet. His bewilderment increased however, when a certain wolf, in no better and probably worse shape than our beloved hanyou, followed and collapsed beside his fellow canine._

_After they woke up and everybody was situated, they went to find Kagome. Inuyasha and Kouga followed her scent to the well, so they knew she had gone through, no blood, so she had been alive when it happened. Inuyasha told everyone how he had found Kagome, when Koga had shown up, drunk. They had gotten in a fight, and he had lost control. The last thing he could remember was him grabbing Kagome by the arms._

_Koga remembered little more. He had been drunk (how he had gotten drunk, he refused to say) and had gone in search of Kagome, trying to convincer her to come back to the pack with him. He had found her with Inuyasha and had started a fight. The last thing he remembered was pulling Inuyasha away from Kagome. They were "discussing" their memories (while throwing insults every other word) when both had sniffed at the air, turned and run back to Lady Kaede's village. The other's followed them, but neither canine would tell why they had left. _

_Koga left, and life settled down again into a new pattern. For the next sixteen years they wondered what had happened to Kagome to make her leave, but their wildest guesses couldn't be further from the truth...._

"That's it?!" Ryu exclaimed, "That's all you know?!" Tsuyu shushed him.

"If they don't know, they don't know," he consoled. "Where do we go from here?" he asked, looking at Inuyasha.

"Well," I said slowly, "you know how they say people with amnesia need to visit places they used to frequent? Maybe it would help Mom if we brought her hack here -"

"Out of the question!" Inuyasha interrupted, "Kagome deliberately stayed away from this place, there has to be good reason."

"It's not like she wouldn't be safe, " Yoshi disagreed, "After all, she has you guys, and us to protect her.

"Maybe she was just too overwhelmed with the pregnancy to come back? And then can you imagine lugging four toddlers around Feudal Japan?" I ventured

"Or maybe it's your father." Inuyasha countered. "Maybe I did something to her and she hates me now!"

"So you're our father?" Tsuyu asked, as we leaned towards him.

"I... I don't know." the hanyou looked confused, "I don't remember... I might be..."

I sighed, "Tell us something we don't know. I for one, think that Mom would be happy here. She might act more... like herself if she's surrounded by her old friends. Besides, she's the only one who knows now. Maybe one of you can drag it out of her."

Tsuyu looked up from the ground. "But the most important thing is getting her back."

Mirokou put a hand on his shoulder. "This must be very hard for the four of you."

Tsuyu looked at him. "There's only one person in my life who's always been there for me... who's never too busy to listen... who reassures me when I'm scared... comforts me when I'm sad... and who showers me with endless love, without ever asking anything in return. Somehow, even with four children, she managed to give us every thing, to be our world. And it's killing us to lose her like this." He finished, voice audibly cracking.

Inuyasha sagged, Mirokou sighed, and Sango looked ready to cry as she pulled Chika to her bosom.

Then, with a wave of his hand, Inuyasha dismissed us.

We four stood up, and left for the well, intent on bringing our mother to a time when enemies were many, and friends were dear.

Authors Note: Okay, I just sent this to a friend for revision. Please, tell me what you think. Anything that doesn't sound cannon.....

Now that I'm done being the little beggar:

This one took a while. I was intimidated because I had to write about Miroku, Inuyasha, and Sango. All three are pretty alien to me, yet I wanted to get them right. I realize that it's been sixteen years, so if they're a little off, the passage of time can be the excuse, and I don't want them to be the same people they are in the series. After all, Mirokou's not as likely to grope women if he has a wife and daughter, Sango's had years to come to terms with Kohaku, and Inuyasha has had years to think about everything he's done in the past.

And before you ask, Inuyasha and Naraku had a little run in a few day's before Kagome left. Naraku announced that he would find Kagome's portal, break through it, and kill her. The day the group was at the well looking for her, bothe Koga and Inuyasha smelled him. That's why IY hasn't gone through all these years. Plus he's afraid to face Kagome; afraid that he hurt her, that she hates him now.

Any questions?

Now, it'll probably be a while before I can update again. Sometime around Christmas maybe. I'm writing seven – count them – _seven_­- stories for Christmas presents. I also need to finish the second chapter of Independence Day.

It won't, however, take as long to update as it did this time, knock on wood. I got into a fight with one of my friends over a scene she thought was totally uncannon. She announced that Sango would never do that, I retorted that it's been years and she's different now. Having children changes a woman.

It took months beforew we came to an agreement, and I'll do my best not to let it happen again.

Also, for your information, I'm almost completely done with the sequel, so (give or take a few days) I can post it immediately after finishing this story. Provided I have my fifty reviews! LOL

I'm not evil, I swear. There are plenty of chapters to go.


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